The Misery Machine - The Horrifying Case of Savayah Mason

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

This week, Drewby and Yergy head to Houston, texas, to discuss the case of Savayah Mason, a 9-month-old infant who was murdered by her father, Luis Luna. On August 24, 2020, Harris County sheriff's deputies responded to an unresponsive infant at an apartment complex in the Alief area of Houston. Savayah was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy performed by the medical examiner revealed that the baby had been bound, sexually assaulted, and killed via suffocation/asphyxiation. Following an interview with homicide investigators, her father, Luis, was arrested and charged with capital murder.Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachineJoin Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachineOfficial Merch Store: https://miserymachine-shop.fourthwall.com/Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcast#documentary #themiserymachine #truecrime 🚨 EDUCATIONAL, DOCUMENTARY, SCIENTIFIC, OR ARTISTIC CONTENT DISCLAIMER 🚨CONTENT WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS ABOUT A SENSITIVE TOPIC INVOLVING LOSS OF LIFE. WE'VE REMOVED ANY GRAPHIC CONTENT TO COMPLY WITH YOUTUBE'S GUIDELINES. WE AIM TO PROVIDE INFORMATIVE, FACTUAL JOURNALISM ON A TRAGIC EVENT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST THAT DOES NOT DISMISS ITS SERIOUSNESS. ALL CLIPS ARE USED UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF FAIR USE FOR NEWS REPORTING AND ANALYSIS.Fair Use Disclaimer: "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."THE CONTENT IN THIS VIDEO IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, BASED ON BELIEVED RELIABLE SOURCES. THEY MAY NOT BE CURRENT OR FULLY ACCURATE. VIEWERS SHOULD DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH AND NOT SOLELY RELY ON THIS INFORMATION. WE'RE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INACCURACIES OR OMISSIONS. WE DO NOT CONDONE, ENDORSE, OR ENCOURAGE ANY OF THE BEHAVIORS OR ACTIVITIES SHOWN. WE URGE EVERYONE TO ALWAYS ACT RESPONSIBLY AND WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW.

Savaya Mason was born in December of 2019 to parents Janice Mason and Luis Luna, who met at Bush High School in the greater Houston, Texas area. Luis and Yonise's relationship. Visit BetMDM-GM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and Game Sense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, Peace contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. ...relationship came and went over the years, and then Yonniece got pregnant. After Sevaya was born, she saw Louise every now and then. The two of them kept up a romantic relationship and talked on Instagram, but their arguments were kind of frequent. After Luis moved into an apartment on West Park Drive with five other young men,

Yenice started bringing Sevea around about three or four times a week. She carried Sevea up in her car seat and brought her things along. Diapers, formula, wipes, blankets, extra clothes and a diaper bag. Three of Luis's roommates were Moulton brothers. Trevante, who went by Vaughn, his twin Treverton, who went by Julio, and Trevainton, who went by Juice. Their half-brother Lederian Watson went by Eldon. This was Henry Matthews, also known as Juvie.

The apartment was on the third floor, and there wasn't much to it. It had only one bedroom, a living room, and a small enclosed sunroom you got to through a sliding door. Vaughn held the only key, which meant everyone else had to knock to get in. Vaughn said there was a shared spare key as well, though others denied this. Accounts differ on who actually paid the rent. One has Vaughn paying all of it, and another has Luis paying part of it. The other five slept wherever was convenient. Luis also had a girlfriend named Ashley.

She had a car and this was how he got around, though it doesn't appear that she was a permanent fixture in the home. Luis took the sunroom because he had a child. With six, sometimes seven, adults living in one bedroom, it was likely the only room that would afford any bit of privacy. Sometimes Yenice left Savea with Luis. Other times, the two of them spent the night, and when they did, all three slept on Luis's air mattress.

Yenis would never let Sevea sleep in her car seat because she had heard that it was not safe for her to do so. On Thursday, August 20th, 2020, Luis took a series of pictures of him holding Sevea, taken at 316 in the afternoon. At 702 that evening, he texted Ashley that he had Sevea. Luis and Yenice messaged each other from 9 to 11 that night. On Friday morning,

Luis told Ashley that Savea hadn't gone to sleep until three. That Friday evening, Luis asked Yannis to drop Sevea off. At 1040 that night, he complained to Ashley that Sevea doesn't go to sleep at 9 anymore. At midnight, Yenice said she was on her way, and Luis wrote back, Never mind, you taking too long. They argued, and nearly an hour after that, Luis texted Ashley that Sevea just fell asleep. On Saturday the 22nd, Vaughn took a short video of Sevea. Around noon, Luis told Ashley he was feeding her and that she might live with him for now.

Two hours or so later, he asked Janice whether Savea could stay the weekend, and Yonniece said that was fine and that she would drop off snacks and some clothes that evening. We shot a short video of the two of them on the air mattress in the sunroom with Sevea asleep beside him. At 6.53 that evening, Yenice asked whether Sevea was okay, and Luis said she was. On Sunday the 23rd, at 1229 in the afternoon, Luis told Ashley that he had just given Sevea a bath. And later he brought her out into the living room to see his roommates, and Bon, Juvie, and El Dogg all said that Savea appeared healthy and happy with no injuries on her. After a while, Luis took her back into the sunroom. El Dog left her at around two or three to do laundry at his mother's house. Just after two, Luis texted someone and asked him to bring a gram, and they arrived at 3.11 p.m.

Around the same time, Luis texted Ashley, we're going to see straight, baby. Visit BetMDM, casino, and check out. the newest exclusive, the price is right fortune pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGEMGEM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. For 50 years, Canadians have wondered what the names of IKEA first. furniture mean. Like Natopa, the guardrail for children's beds. Natopa means giving your favorite person room to grow. It means their safety and your piece of No. In Swedish, Natapa means night monkey. Mark! IKEA, 50 years of Swedishness at home.

Look, he's wearing little pajamas. So cute. Advertising on Spotify with audio and display ads helps brands turn attention in to results. Download the 2026 performance playbook and discover why Spotify belongs in your media plan. At 4 o'clock, he sent Janice a photo of Savea, and the photo was one of the ones from Thursday. He asked Janice if Sevea could stay for a week, so he could take her to see his people. Yenice agreed and then said she would come see her for a little bit and bring more stuff over, and Luis wrote back that she had everything that she needed, which started another argument. At 604 that evening, he told Ashley that he and Savea were about to take a nap and asked if she was still coming over.

Juice got back to the apartment around 8 or 9 after being gone for two to three days. It was already dark inside. Sunroom door was closed and Juice believed the lights in the air were off. Bon and Juvie were asleep on the couches in the living room and Jus was feeling sleepy himself. Bon later said that he woke up somewhere around midnight and saw Luis there. Zavea was not with him, and he also noted that the sunroom was completely. be dark. At 844 that night, an unknown person texted Luis, yo, you got a G. Luis did not answer. His phone was locked when the message came in. There was a little activity,

and then at 8.55 the phone locked again and stayed that way for nearly three hours. During that time, Luis missed messages from Yonise, from Ashley, and from someone named Bree. He answered all of them between 1143 that night and 1217 the next morning, which was now the 24th. Eldog got back from his mother's house around 11. Bon, Juvie, and Juice were still asleep in the living room. Ryan Jang, a friend who didn't live there, had come in after Juice and was awake in the bedroom. Shortly after midnight on the 24th, Louise came out of the sunroom with Cvea held up in the air, screaming, saying she couldn't breathe, which woke up everyone in the living room. Sevea was pale. Her lips and face had gone blue. Her chest was caving in. There was foam,

her mouth, and no breath. Louise put her down and tried to give her CPR. It should be noted that Yonis reported that Sevea gasped at night while sleeping and that she had noisy inhalation while laying down and sometimes while crying. Sevea's doctor diagnosed her with airway Malaysia, which is a condition where the cartilage in the windpipe or branching airway is soft and floppy, causing the airway to collapse when you breathe out. But that's not what was happening here.

Von, Juvie, Juice, and Eldog described Luis as frantic, hysterical, scared, shocked, panicking, distraught, and freaking out. According to Vaughan, it appeared that Luis was doing everything he could. El Dogg said Sevea had a belt mark on her neck, as if somebody had tried to tie something real, real, real tight to suffocate her. But then he immediately corrected himself and called the Mark Little and said that by belt, he meant the belts on the car seat. Vaughn called 911 at 1222 a.m. while Luis was doing chest compressions. Vaughn told the operator, Savaya wasn't breathing,

then that she was conscious and struggling to breathe. Then that she wasn't awake but was breathing a little bit. Next, Vaughn said her eyes were shut, but they could hear her breathing, and then that she wasn't responsive. Finally, Vaughn told the operator she wasn't breathing. The operator talked them through how to do CPR properly, and Luis followed along.

At one point there was a sound on the recording. The operator asked if that was the baby, and Vaughn and Luis both said yes. On that call, Luis could be heard saying that the belt part was around her neck. Bring to El Dogg, Luis said he left her in the car seat accidentally with the straps too tight, and she basically choked. First responders soon arrived, but the paramedics found no pulse, no heart movement, and no breath. They noticed ligation marks around her neck and around her mouth. something that looked to them like a thermal burn. Savea's diaper hadn't been changed in a long time.

Paramedic Joshua Shavers pulled the front of that diaper down to assess Sevaya and found no bleeding and no obvious trauma. Luis was still frantic and appeared to be concerned about the well-being of his child. When he followed the paramedics out to the ambulance, they found it distracting and had him removed. At 1236 a.m., Sevea's temperature was 95.9 degrees. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly, 19 plus to wager.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. My name is Siyah, and I live in the most beautiful place on Earth. Seven months ago, I blew up my life, and a lot has shifted since then.

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Stream all episodes, available on CBC Gem. It's a Fahrenheit. Between that reading, her pale appearance, her dilated eyes, and her blood sugar, paramedics estimated that her prolonged downtime, this essentially means the amount of time that her heart has been stopped at 30 minutes or more. At Texas Children's Hospital, staff wrote down what they could see. There was a bruise on her left cheek shaped like a handprint and bruising on her forehead. There was redness impaling around her mouth, scratches and shallow abrasions on her neck,

and other bruises on her left knee. Rigger had set into her jaw and her neck was rigid and the skin was blue from lack of oxygen. Her private areas were recorded as normal. Her internal temperature at 112 in the morning read 89.8 degrees. She was pronounced dead at 116, 20 minutes after she got there. That same diaper wet only in the ambulance now had fecal matter in it. It was thrown away at the hospital, and it was never recovered and never tested. Deputy Shane Ward of the Harris County Sheriff's Office photographed Savaya's body at the hospital.

He also photographed her private areas because he believed them to be swollen and not normal. Back at the scene, Deputy David Papa had taken Luis out of the ambulance. Police brought him up to the apartment, which was described as chaos. and smelled some like marijuana, old food, and urine. He and Deputy Jordan Davis held the men there to identify them, and eventually Deputy Papa ordered them out of the apartment but didn't let them leave the scene. Elise begged to go back to her, please. The deputy said no and looked through the apartment, Sunroom included, a couple of times.

Deputy Papa asked whether Savea had any problems. Luis mentioned a diaper rash and said Yenice had told him Savaya had trouble breathing the same that she always does. He said Sevea did have a diaper rash that weekend. At the time, Sevea wasn't having any trouble breathing or any other health issues. For into Deputy Papa, Luis was forthcoming in establishing a timeline and was the last person to see his daughter alive. When asked when he had last seen her, and if she was okay, Louise said, I went to sleep like seven o'clock, woke up barely out of my sleep. It was about an hour before this. She was good. Then he said he woke a second time and found the seatbelt part.

that was around her armpits up at her neck, and he pulled her out of the seat and her eyes wouldn't open. Louise went to Instagram to get a hold of Ynice. When she picked up, he told her frantically to get to the hospital. The ambulance reached the hospital around then, and an officer there told Deputy Papa that Sevaya had died. Deputy Papa did not tell Luis this. Deputy Davis told him that because of pandemic restrictions,

he wouldn't be able to see Sevea at the hospital even if he went. Deputy Davis brought up the possibility of SIDS, sudden impendez syndrome, and said law enforcement had to look into Svea's breathing issues before she could release him from the scene. Louise said again that Svea had been breathing and a supervising sergeant told him that's something that God does. Sometimes babies just die. Louise exclaimed, what are they talking about, SIDS? Deputy Davis replied, that's just a possibility.

And Louise shot back, but she was still breathing. Louise got a hold of Yonise on Instagram again and told her, they said they think it's SIDS. Deputy Davis interrupted, we don't think it's SIDS, it's just a possibility. Luis then said, her car seat was kind of moved. It wasn't the same way I left it. Deputy Papa asked why Luis's clothes were wet. Louis said, that's my daughter's pee from me holding her.

In his report, Deputy Papa wrote that Louise smelled strongly of urine. Deputy investigator Jack Farrell reached the apartment at 2.10 a.m. found Louise to be cooperative and the two of them sat in the investigator's car. Investigator Farrell already knew Sevea had been reported dead. He lied to Louise saying, I don't know her condition right now. Luis told Investigator Farrell that Yenice had said Sevea's breathing was a little off, that he himself had heard her gasping but not opening her mouth in her sleep. She had no recent illness and no recent injuries beyond normal injuries that a baby gets and a diaper rash.

So that Sevea slept without a shirt on, so the car seat belt would leave marks on her arm. Investigator Farrell asked about the injury at her men. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600, to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. that MDM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. And Luis said he had noticed it as well and had no idea what it was. Investigator Farrell got Luis's consent to search the apartment. Then, for the first time, Investigator Farrell told him, your daughter did not survive.

Luis erupted. She's, I just asked you. I just asked you. Luis was breathing heavily now. Investigator Farrell kept going. Is there anything that you can think of that happened today that would have caused this? You need to tell me now if you know of something, like if you saw something, somebody did something, or you saw her fall. Louise cried out, no, and then the only time she ever falls is when I'm bathing her.

Nothing happened to her. He then shut down and cried for about a minute. Deputy Ward photographed the apartment and described the whole place as dirty. Nothing showed forced entry. He noticed an ashtray, ashes, and a digital scale. all probably associated with sales of drugs, though Investigator Farrell didn't read the scene as drug dealing and no weapons turned up.

The car seat was dirty and Deputy Ward thought its straps were too small. Investigator Farrell said at first that he thought the straps were loose, but then said it didn't feel like enough room for a child to be in there. Seat smelled of urine, as did the sunroom, and the seat itself was discolored and wet. A formula can sat behind it, along with diapers and random trash. Deputy Ward carried the seat down to Luis, and Luis showed him how he had used it to hold Sevaya. From the kitchen area, Deputy Ward took a bottle, some formula, and a squeezable

food pouch in case any of it needed testing later. None of it was ever tested. Deputy Ward didn't fingerprint or swab anything in the apartment. For into the deputy, we knew who was inside the apartment, and we weren't trying to find out if anybody else had been in there. This will become important as our story progresses. Once the investigators left, the roommates went back up. By then, Luis knew Sevea was dead. Juvee said he showed no remorse. El Dogg thought he didn't care,

Jus said everybody expresses their feelings differently. Nice came by two and thought Luis was acting a little weird like something was off. Assistant medical examiner Jennifer Ross performed Sevea's autopsy at 10.25 a.m. She had listed her manner of death as homicide, and her cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries with suffocation in SA. But Dr. Ross also said neither the essay nor the blunt force injuries had caused the death. She also said that she could not determine who had caused Savaya's injuries. Dr. Ross described the abrasions around Sevea's mouth as well as other abrasions found inside of her mouth

as consistent with some sort of suffocation, putting something over the mouth with some movement. In Saveya's eyelids, she found patigial hemorrhages which come from struggling to breathe. Dr. Ross said Sevea's injuries were consistent with S.A. and could not have been inflicted with a finger or a thermometer. So when did Sevea actually die? Dr. Ross believed that by the time Sevea was pronounced dead, she had already been dead for at least a couple of hours. Hospital staff had recorded rigor mortis and by the time the autopsy was conducted, it was gone. According to Dr. Ross, that meant Civea had been dead more than 12 hours by the time she was examined. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive.

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That MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. For 50 years, Canadians have wondered what the names of IKEA furniture mean. Like Natopa, the guardrail for children's beds. Natopa means giving your favorite person room to grow. It means their safety and your piece of... No. In Swedish, Natopa means night monkey. Mom, he's back.

IKEA, 50 years of Swedishness at home. Look, he's wearing little pajamas. So cute. What does a sunny getaway with Air Canada sound like? Sunny Jamaica moves to its own rhythm. Rio comes alive long after the sun goes down. Philippines slows everything down. And just when you think you've heard it all,

there's sunny Lima. However you imagine your sunniest, Air Canada can take you there. Book hot fares and vacation packages today. Nice travels. Working from the 89.8 reading at the hospital and that temperature changes approximately 1 to 2 degrees per hour after death, Dr. Ross estimated her time of death could have been as early as 6 the prior evening.

After Dr. Ross ruled the death a homicide, Investigator Farrell got a warrant to search the apartment a second time. Went back in on the evening of August 21st. with Detective Wallace Wyatt directing and Deputy Kathy Halsstrom assisting. Deputy Halesstrom photographed a black trash bag in the sunroom. Beneath the air mattress, she found a diaper wipe with what looked like blood on it. Charger cord lay on the floor near the closet. Deputy Halsstrom dumped the trash bag out onto the sunroom floor.

Out of the pile, she took a blanket, some clothing, a thermometer, and eight more diaper wipes. These wipes looked soiled to her, and what it was she couldn't exactly say. Jack of Wyatt left the baby bottles in the kitchen where they were. There was, he said, no reason to think they would have been involved in a homicide. He did not look for fingerprints and did not collect any because he knew everybody that lived there and had no reason to believe that there was another person in the apartment. While the warrant was being worked, five people were taken into the sheriff's department for questioning, Luis, Yenis, and three of the roommates, Juice, Vaughn and Joub.

Luis was there for more than seven hours. At the same day, he gave a recorded scene. statement to Investigator Farrell and Deputy A. Alfred. Luis let them take a DNA sample and let them search his phone. Investigators pulled the data off it and handed the phone back. Vaughan, juice, and juvie gave DNA as well. El Dogg and Ryan Jang didn't give any samples until early 2023. Eskator Farrell obtained an arrest warrant and arrested Luis on August 31st, taking his phone with him and questioning him a second time. Act of why it got warrants for a second extraction of that phone for Luis's Instagram records.

What the extraction showed, among other things, was that Luis used it to watch adult films, including between 6 o'clock and 7.30 on the evening of the 23rd, which matched up with Saveya's estimated time of death. Lauren Bauer, who is an analyst with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, tested what had been taken from the apartment and what had been taken from Sevea's body. She checked it against samples from Sevea and Luis, and from Vaughan, Juvie, Juice, Eldog, and Ryan Jang. Somewhere in that process, she turned up a profile she couldn't match to anybody,

and she labeled it as 12A-1SP. There was limited support for the conclusion that the DNA in Savaya's mouth belonged to that unknown person. None of the DNA, Lauren Bauer, found on Savaya's body, belonged to Luis. Luis's DNA was on objects in the sunroom, including wipes, blankets, the car seat, a digital thermometer, a net gator, a charging cage. clothing from both an adult and an infant, and one of the shirts had L. Dogg's DNA on it. A profile the lab could not identify was on the car seat, on the comforter off Luis's bed,

and on six of the diaper wipes. And that profile wasn't the only unidentified one. Eight of the nine wipes carried DNA from people nobody ever identified, and so did the comforter, the car seat, the charging cable, a blanket, the baby shorts, and other clothes. The lab found male DNA on a number of items, clean wipes, baby blankets, a onesie, and the comforter. Blood showed up on some of the wipes, on a blanket, and on the neckgator. Lauren Bauer could not say whose DNA it was or whose blood. She never determined whether any DNA she had analyzed had come from blood or any other bodily fluids. After learning about that unknown profile, Vesgator Farrell didn't go looking for anyone else who might have been in that apartment. Detective Wyatt and

inherited the case in 2023 and didn't find that person either. Detective Wyatt got no other DNA profiles and never searched a private DNA database for a match. Luis was charged with a capital murder and his bail was set at $300,000. His probable cause hearing went ahead on September 1st without him in the room as he was being held in the mental health unit. The magistrate left the bond question alone and passed it to the criminal district court. In April of 2021, Luis filed a handwritten motion asking to have the bail brought down to $115,000. In October of 2021, Judge Hillary Unger signed an order barring Louise to have any contact with Denise Mason. The court also set bond conditions, GPS monitoring, a curfew around the clock, and drug and alcohol testing.

Louise couldn't have contact with any child under 17 without permission and couldn't go with. within a thousand feet of anywhere children commonly gather. A grand jury re-indicted Louise on January 9th, 2024, and again in July of 2024. The final indictment ran 16 paragraphs and charged two kinds of capital murder, killing a child under 10 years of age, and killing her while committing or trying to commit aggravated essay. His trial began on September 23, 20204 in the 24th District Court. The court sat nine days in the case, seven of them taking testimony.

Judge Unger presided over the case. Assistant District Attorney Edward A. Applebaum, a chief in the Harris County District Attorney's Office Child Fatality Section, prosecuted the case alongside ADA Sarah Delgado. Attorney's Mark Hot Glob, Gerald Graber, and Molly Bagshaw represented Luis. Led not guilty. In addition, Von Juvie and Eldog each denied telling the 911 operator they could hear surveyor breathing. The recording was entered into evidence by the state and

later played in the courtroom. Louisa's lawyers wanted to ask Investigator Farrell about the techniques he had used in the interrogation. Among them was that everybody's story lined up except Louises. The evidence all pointed at him that saying you didn't do this isn't enough, that Sevea wants you to tell the truth, and that he ought to blame somebody in the apartment. The state agreed that these were common techniques and that Investigator Farrell had to use them on Luis, but it objected to the jury hearing about them, arguing the evidence was hearsay irrelevant and would create a false impression. The hearsay objection was overruled, and the relevance was never ruled on. Instead, the court ruled that because Luis had taken a polygraph,

the state is not able to get into and did not make statements as part of it asking about Investigator Farrell's techniques would create a false impression. The whole interrogation stayed out. The jury was given six theories to convict on. Two had Luis as the person who did it, one for each kind of capital murder. Four had him liable as a party. Two of those references. on the theory that he solicited or encouraged or aided someone else in doing it. The other two rested on the theory that he was part of a conspiracy to commit aggravated essay and that Savaya's killing was committed as part of it and should have been anticipated. On October 3rd, 2024, the jury found Luis guilty of capital murder.

The jury reached its verdict within a matter of hours. Luis was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole automatically with credit for 1,495 days. Louise filed notice of appeal the same day, and Angela Cameron and Douglas Gladden of the Harris County Public Defender's Office took the case. The appeal raises four issues. First, that the evidence was illegally insufficient, which means no rational juror could have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Second and third, errors in the jury charge. And fourth, the excluded interrogation. In its response, the state argued that Luis had admitted being alone with Sevaya and that his DNA had been found throughout the scene. Louise's lawyers answered that neither claim is in the record and quoted forensic analyst Lauren Bauer being asked whether she could conclude what type of biological material had left the DNA on the items.

Much of what you heard about the weekend Sevea died comes from the appellant's brief. The filing Louise's lawyers gave the appeals court summarizing the trial record. According to the brief, the only injuries that caused Sevea's death were the ones causing suffocation. The brief also lists injuries that neither caused nor contributed to her death. Among them were rib fractures consistent with CPR, bruising on her forehead, internal bruising, and a bruise on her face consistent with a slap mark, a handprint mark. There were also scratches, abrasions, and bruises across her head and face, her left ear, her neck, her shoulder, her chest and abdomen, her back, and her feet.

Savaya's ankles had linear markings consistent with a ligature wrapped around them. One mark was narrower than the rest, and a narrow cord or a shoestring or something that size could have made it. The brief described Savasovius' privates as swollen, red and irritated with bruising, chafing, torn skin, and abrasions. None of those injuries showed any signs of healing, which the brief says meant they happened at the time or near the time of death, meaning hours before, during the death or right after the death.

The first court of appeals took the case on the written briefs without oral argument on March 31st, 2026. As of the date of this recording in September of 26, the court hasn't ruled. Luis Luna is held by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at the McConnell Unit, and his projected release date is listed as Life Without Parole. After the verdict, ADA Applebaum said of Yenise, Her daughter was brutally murdered, taken from her too early. She didn't get to ever celebrate her first birthday. She didn't get to take her to pre-K here, see her take her first steps or any of that stuff.

So she missed out on all that stuff because of what this man did and it's tormenting her. He also said, they're difficult because they involve children and especially a child of this age. I mean, she couldn't walk, she couldn't talk, she had no voice. So the jury really was the voice for this little girl and spoke for her by its verdict. Or in Kim Ogg, the Harris County DA at the time, Saveya should have been with someone who kept her safe, but instead, he abused that trust. Children are the most vulnerable victims in our community,

and the people who hurt them often try to escape accountability. That is why we have specialized prosecutors working in the child fatality section. Three days after Savaya was pronounced dead, on August 27, 2020, Yenis started a fundraiser to bury her. 102 people donated. They raised 8,000. $940 more than her $8,000 goal. We were unable to find an obituary for Savea or any information about her final arrangements,

so it's likely the family wanted to keep that information private. But we wanted to leave you with just one thought. Luis Luna is behind bars for life, and it's very likely he had something to do with his daughter's death. But based on the evidence that we provided to you in this episode, it appears that we're there were other men involved as well, men who apparently weren't living in the house. When unknown male DNA is found on wipes, baby clothes, and a comforter, it's difficult not to draw some sort of conclusion about what may have been happening here. And I know you know what we mean

by male DNA. So what do you think about the fact that the Harris County Sheriff's Office couldn't be bothered to properly test evidence or dust for fingerprints? What do you think about the fact that they're not even trying to find these other individuals. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below.